HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – It's not unusual to do some Internet research before I write a column, but this time my notes have three very important words: "Clear Browser History."

Jeff S. JohnsonThe Huntsville Times/Lee Roop

It may have escaped the notice of the fine folks who print your calendar, and who so conveniently note special dates, that Sunday is National Go Topless Day.

Among the cities where spectators will see exactly what secrets that Victoria has been hiding is Asheville, N.C. It isn't against North Carolina law for women to appear topless in public, so some will gather in the city's Pritchard Park to take advantage of that law, ostensibly to mark next Tuesday's Women's Equality Day.

One of the event organizers over the past four years has been Jeff Johnson of Huntsville, a 61-year-old retired stockbroker who is general manager at Over the Rainbow Pediatrics and works as a clown for childrens' parties. He has some Asheville leaders pretty irate right now. Apparently Ferguson, Mo., doesn't have a monopoly on outside agitation.

AL.com Opinion

About the writerMark McCarter began working with The Huntsville Times in 1998 and writes columns on local news for the Alabama Media Group. Reach him at mmccarter@al.com.

Carl Mumpower is a psychologist and former Asheville city councilman who has become a vocal critic of Johnson and the Go Topless event. So angered is Mumpower, he contacted AL.com about buying an ad to attack Johnson.

Mumpower emailed me a copy of the potential ad, as well as some pictures from last year's event. (Note to self: Again, remember, clear browser history...)

Weird getting weirder, the anti-topless advocates actually held a photo contest – when a reported 10 topless women showed up in a park with considerably more male spectators – to award prizes for shots that were "the most degrading moment for women," exposure of sexual activity in eyesight of children and exposure of sexual "acting out."

The punchline of the ad is:

"We don't like what this clown does in Asheville.

"We wanted to come to Huntsville and let you know."

Mumpower said he was "bothered by the incongruence of what (Johnson) is there and what he is here."

Johnson didn't answer calls or texts for an interview, but my AL.com colleague, Lee Roop, wrote a story two years ago about Johnson and his involvement. That led to this line in a Google searchbar I would never have envisioned typing: "lee roop Huntsville clown topless."

Johnson said then, "They characterized me as if things aren't weird enough, now there's a clown.. They're being prejudiced and discriminatory about my career."

He also said then that topless laws were "the most glaring illustration of unfairness I can think of."

When I asked Mumpower why he simply didn't cede this one day of the year to a few topless women and let families police whether their children are exposed to it, he responded, "That's like saying child abuse is OK if you only do it one day a year."

I pointed out child abuse is a crime and going topless is legal, but he countered that other activities, such as fondling of breasts (Reminder to reader: Better clear your browser history now, too ) is illegal. Mumpower also maintained that, in a public park, there are too many local citizens and tourists who would wander accidentally upon topless women.

Mumpower said he has had no contact with Johnson, but suggested that if he was so concerned with the right of women to go topless, he should champion that cause not in North Carolina, where it's already legal, but in his hometown.

Future Google search: "Topless" and "Big Spring Park."

It finally dawned on me. These guys are perfect for this controversy. Sometimes, they both sounded like a couple of boobs.